Lando Norris required a statement drive to reassert his world championship credentials and he delivered it emphatically with victory at the Austrian Grand Prix. The British driver is famously self-critical but if his harshest critic is himself, this was a suitably commanding riposte to all the doubters.
After a tightly contested, impossibly tense battle with his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri, during which the pair fought all the way to the flag, the British driver held the upper hand to take the win and close to within 15 points of his teammate at the top of the championship, indicating that the two could yet duke this one out all the way to Abu Dhabi in December.
In stark contrast and in perhaps a microcosm of how the season is going for Max Verstappen, his title hopes received a huge setback when the world champion was knocked out of the race on the opening lap, having been struck by the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli.
That he and his Red Bull team took it with such equanimity perhaps indicated that deep down they know this really is McLaren’s two-horse race. It is hard not to imagine Verstappen would have been puce with rage at enduring a “did not finish” were he at the heart of a title fight. As it is he now trails Piastri by 61 points.
With Norris and Piastri having clashed at the last round in Canada, hearts were in mouths at McLaren as the pair vied to thrilling effect over the opening third of the race, ducking and diving at one another in what was a bravura display that remained nip and tuck all the way to the finish.
In the week the McLaren team principal, Andrea Stella, had praised the resilience of Norris as “typical of a champion”, highlighting his ability to constantly learn and improve, something the 25-year-old demonstrated with a nerveless run here as he held the edge over his teammate and closed out the win with superb control. It was no little redemption and an enormously strong comeback after his misjudgment in hitting Piastri in Montreal.
The victory is a huge fillip for Norris. He took a dominant pole and followed it with an equally controlled and assured victory, his third of the season, indicative that he is determined not to allow his teammate to take charge of the championship battle.
More important, it may suggest something of a turning point for the British driver. He has struggled this season, lacking the responsive feel from the front axle of the car – he likes to push it to the limit through corners and it has caused him problems, particularly in qualifying. However McLaren brought a major upgrade to Austria with front and rear aerodynamic improvements but, vitally for Norris, also on his car a front-suspension development they were hoping would give him the feel he requires.
1 Lando Norris (GB) McLaren 1hr 23min 47.693sec
2 Oscar Piastri (Aus) McLaren +2.695
3 Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari HP +19.820
4 Lewis Hamilton (GB) Ferrari HP +29.020
5 George Russell (GB) Mercedes +1:02.396
6 Liam Lawson (NZ) RB +1:07.754
7 Fernando Alonso (Sp) Aston Martin +1 lap
8 Gabriel Bortoleto (Br) Sauber +1 lap
9 Nico Hülkenberg (Ger) Sauber +1 lap
10 Esteban Ocon (Fr) Haas +1 lap
11 Oliver Bearman (GB) Haas +1 lap
12 Isack Hadjar (Fr) RB +1 lap
13 Pierre Gasly (Fr) Alpine +1 lap
14 Lance Stroll (Can) Aston Martin +1 lap
15 Franco Colapinto (Arg) Alpine +1 lap
16 Yuki Tsunoda (Jpn) Red Bull +2 laps
Not classified
Alexander Albon (Tha) Williams 15 laps completed; Max Verstappen (Neth) Red Bull 0 laps completed; Kimi Antonelli (It) Mercedes GP 0 laps completed; Carlos Sainz Jr (Sp) Williams did not start
He felt its benefits in qualifying and in the race he was clearly enjoying a car that was positively purring as he tickled it beneath the Styrian mountains. Even as Piastri hounded him from pillar to post – the battling Australian looking at every opportunity to nick past, with the pair at one point changing places and back again across a single lap – Norris was unyielding. The driver who entered the season as title favourite may, on this form, yet reassert that status over Piastri.
The Australian called it an “intense” fight and admitted that one moment, when he looked to dive up the inside of turn four and locked up, missing his teammate by inches, was too much. It was an opinion shared by McLaren, who cautioned him not to try the manoeuvre again.
Norris was able to take genuine pleasure in one of his best drives. “It was a tough race, pushing the whole way through, tricky, hot, tiring,” he said. “We had a great battle, that’s for sure. It was a lot of fun for me, a lot of stress, but a lot of fun.”
Verstappen, already enduring a Red Bull that struggles for balance and whose upgrades this weekend appeared to do little to ease its woes, had only cold comfort as his hordes of supporters filed out of the Red Bull Ring.
An over-eager Antonelli unceremoniously smashed into him at turn three, earning a three-place grid penalty for Silverstone next weekend. The world champion’s race was over in seconds and he trails the McLarens by a gap that appears all but insurmountable given the pace advantage they enjoy over Red Bull.
He described it, with perhaps an uncharacteristic air of acceptance, as “just unlucky” and conceded: “Sometimes you have to accept that you’re not winning and we just try and do the best we can.”
McLaren, however, had an absolute stranglehold on the front and can expect similar at the British Grand Prix in Silverstone in a week’s time, while Ferrari too enjoyed a strong return, with Charles Leclerc third and Lewis Hamilton in fourth, the new upgrades to their car going down well with both drivers.
Marc Márquez delivered a clinical masterclass at MotoGP's Cathedral of Speed on Sunday to claim victory at the Dutch Grand Prix while his brother and closest contender Alex suffered a race-ending crash that left him with a fractured hand.
As Assen celebrated its centenary of motorcycle racing, the elder Márquez seized control on the second lap and did not look back as he extended his championship advantage to a commanding 68 points over Alex as he seeks a seventh title.
Aprilia's Marco Bezzecchi finished second while Ducati's Francesco Bagnaia came third, with the two-times champion now staring at a daunting 126-point gap to his teammate after 10 rounds.
"I'm super happy one more time to take the 37 points... Not 100% happy because my father told me that Alex broke one finger and I wish him a good recovery," Márquez told TNT Sports. "First of all, because he's my main opponent for the championship. I want to have all the opponents on the racetrack. And secondly because he's my brother and I will try to help him to stay motivated and have a good recovery."
Bagnaia had won the last three races in Assen but despite taking the lead early on, he was pushed down to fourth place before he recovered to finish on the podium ahead of KTM's Pedro Acosta.
Marc, who crashed hard twice on Friday, also equalled motorcycling great Giacomo Agostini with 68 premier-class victories and now sets his sights on his former rival Valentino Rossi who finished his career with 89 wins.
Yamaha's Fabio Quartararo had claimed pole position but crashed in Saturday's sprint – where Marc claimed his ninth victory of the season – and the Frenchman was slow off the line while Bagnaia made the perfect start.
Gresini Racing's Alex was in second place but on turn one of the next lap, Marc made his move to overtake his brother and slot in behind his teammate, waiting patiently to pounce with 24 laps left in the race.
Alex briefly lost his concentration and Bezzecchi, sporting a new aero package on his Aprilia, squeezed his way past the Gresini rider while Acosta also made an overtake stick to push the younger Marquez down to fifth.
Up front, Marc found a gap before the final chicane on lap five to overtake Bagnaia and take the lead while his brother Alex crashed heavily when he leaned into Acosta and lost his balance when they made contact in a battle for fourth.
Alex was immediately taken to the medical centre where a left hand fracture was confirmed, with Gresini saying he would fly to Madrid for surgery later on Sunday. Reuters
George Russell was fifth for Mercedes, Liam Lawson was sixth for Racing Bulls, Fernando Alonso seventh for Aston Martin, Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hülkenberg eighth and ninth for Sauber and Esteban Ocon 10th for Haas.
